res 
Iran te ay SS aa ent S ese EVA Beye 
" ae ~ 


| 


OF 


Qap Pee ah 


DAVES 


ARD GRAHAM. 


Che Librarp 


of the 
Cniversitp of Worth Carolina 


Collection of forth Caroliniana 
Chis book was presented 


by 
John C.Daves 
Cp 369.13 
C57d 


vatals 


oli ras coniaive 
ST TEE 


3 ane ft 

SS ADS Me ee has 
RCA er ly Oak. 
Trae aye, es? 


oy 


P2019 


THE NORTH CAROLINA. SOCIETY OF THE 
CINCINNATI, 1783. 


OMNIA RELIOUIT SERVARE REMPUBLICAM. 


One hundred and ten years ago the Continental army of 
the Revolution was in Cantonment on the banks of the 


Hudson. It was that critical period in the history of our 


country which intervened between the cessation of hostili- 
ties and the founding of a new government. Friend- 
ships formed between the officers during the long struggle 
had grown into warm attachments amidst common dangers, 
ptivations and sufferings. The desire to perpetuate these 
associations, and to transmit them to coming generations, 
was the sentiment which gave birth to the Society of the 
Cincinnati, and no organization owes its origin to nobler 
plirpose or more interesting circumstances. } 
The officers of the Line determined to create a permanent 
Military Order, which should continue and strengthen the 
ties formed in the service, and provide a fund for the sup- 
port of indigent members of the Association. Who first 
conceived the idea is unknown, but it was probably Baron 
von Steuben, though the original plan of the organization 
was drawn by General Henry Knox. This was revised by 
a committee, and finally accepted on 13th May, 1783, at a 


. 
74 


2 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, 1783. 


general meeting of officers representing all the regiments, 
which was presided over by General von Steuben, and was 
held at his headquarters in the Verplanck house near Fish- 
kill. 

The Institution thus adopted declares that to perpetuate 
the memories of the Revolution, ‘‘as well as the mutual 
friendships which have been formed under the pressure of 
common danger, and in many instances cemented by the 
blood of the parties, the officers of the American army do 
hereby, in the most solemn manner, associate, constitute 
and combine themselves into one SocrETy oF FRIENDs, to 
endure as long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest 
male posterity, and in failure thereof the collateral 
branches who may be judged worthy of becoming its sup- 
porters. 

As the members of the new order had made a sacrifice of all 
personal interests to save the country in her hour of peril, 
and as now, like the old Roman hero Cincinnatus, they 
were about to lay aside the sword and resume their citi- 
zenship, they adopted the motto, omuza religuit servare 
rempublicam, and styled themselves the Society of the 
Cincinnati. 

The immutable principles of the Association were de- 
clared to be: ‘‘An incessant attention to preserve inviolate 
those exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which 
they have fought and bled, and without which the high 
rank of a human being is a curse instead of a blessing. 

‘‘An unalterable determination to promote and cherish, 
between the respective States, that union and national 
honour so essentially necessary to their happiness and the 
future dignity of the American empire. 

‘“To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting 
among the officers. ‘This spirit will dictate brotherly kind- 


North Carolina Society of the Con eInM AL T7534), 1:2 


ness in all things, and particularly extend to the most sub- 
stantial acts of beneficence, according to the ability of the 
Society, towards those officers and their families who 
unfortunately may be under the necessity of receiving it.’’ 

The army was about to disband, and the officers would be 
widely scattered; therefore the General Society was, for 
convenience, and ‘‘for the sake of frequent communica- 
tions,’’ divided into thirteen ‘‘State Meetings,’’ one for 
each Colony. The sessions of the General Society were to 
be triennial, that body to consist of the general officers and 
of five delegates from each State Society. 

The permanent fund, only the interest of which was to 
be used for the beneficiaries, was made up of the entrance 
fees of a month’s pay for each member, which varied from 
the $26.60 of the Lieutenant to the $166. of the Major- 
General. -In some of the State Societies this fund has by 
judicious investment now grown to a sum of many thou- 
sands. 

The claims to original membership are defined by the 
declaration that ‘‘All the officers of the American army, 
as well those who have resigned with honour, after 
three years’ service in the capacity of officers, or who have 
been deranged by the resolutions of Congress, as those 
who shall have continued to the end of the war, have the 
right to become parties to this Institution; a) viet aS 
a testimony of affection to the memory and the offspring of 
such officers as have died in the service, their eldest male 
branches shall have the same right of becoming members 
as the children of the actual members of the Society. 

‘(And as there are, and will at all times be, men in the 
respective States eminent for their abilities and patriotism, 
whose views may be directed to the same laudable objects 
as those of the Cincinnati, it shall be a rule to admit stich 


K 


4 North Carolina Soctety of the Cinctnnatt, 1783. 


characters, as Honorary members of the Society, for their 
own lives only.’’ 

The Society adopted as an Order ‘‘a medal of gold, sus- 
pended by a deep blue riband, edged with white, descrip- 
tive of the union of France and America.’’ On the obverse 
are three Roman Senators presenting Cincinnatus with 
military ensigns; surrounding the figures the legend, Omuza 
religuit servare rempublicam. On the reverse Fame crown- 
ing Cincinnatus with a wreath; below hands joined, with 
the motto Esto Perpetua, and around the whole, Soczetas 
Cincinnatorum Instituta, A. D. 1783. 

Major L Enfant, of the Continental Corps of Engineers, 
to whom this design was referred, objected to a medal as 
an unsuitable emblem for a military Order,.and suggested 
instead the Bald Eagle, as peculiar to America, and distin- 
guished from that of other climes by its white head and 
tail. The eagle is of gold, displayed, supporting on its 
breast the figure of the medal. Grasped in its talons are 
golden olive branches, with the leaves in green enamel, 
and above its head is an olive wreath to which the clasp is 
attached. ‘The head and tail are enamelled in white, the 
body and wings are of gold, and the medal on its breast and 
back is enamelled in green and blue. This beautiful deco- 
ration is the one now worn by all members of the Society. 
The officers of the French navy presented to General 
Washington a very artistic and costly copy of the Cincin- 
nati eagle richly set in diamonds, which has been handed 
down to successive Presidents-General, and is now in the 
possession of Hon. Hamilton Fish of New York. 

At the second meeting of the Society, held in the Can- 
tonments on 19th June, 1783, the organization was com- 
pleted by formally adopting the Eagle as the emblem of the 
Order, by directing that a diploma on parchment be given to 


North Carolina Society of the Cincinnatt, 1783. 5 


each member, and by electing General Washington Presi- 
dent-General and General Knox Secretary-General. 

In the course of the year all of the thirteen State Socie- 
ties were formed, that of North Carolina in October at 
Hillsborough, with General Jethro Sumner as President, 
and Rev. Adam Boyd, Brigade Chaplain, as Secretary. 
To the list of the original members, sixty in number, 
printed for the first time in the May number of this Maca- 
ZINE for: 1893, should be added the naines of Laeutenant 
-ColonelHenry’Dixon-end- Major George Doherty.* 

In our generation, when the Society of the Cincinnati 
is so limited in its membership, and so entirely devoid of 


any political significance that the mere fact of its exist- 


ence is unknown to the great majority of Americans, it is 
difficult to understand the bitter storm of opposition which 
it at first encountered. Writers and orators proclaimed 
that a body existing by hereditary right would become a 
privileged aristocratic class, antagonistic to the spirit of our 
institutions and a dangerous element in a republican com- 
monwealth. Judge Burke of South Carolina attacked it ina 
virulent pamphlet; Mirabeau echoed his words from across 
the water; Jefferson demanded that the Order be annihilated, 
and John Adams wrote from Paris that ‘‘the formation of 
the Society was the first step taken to deface the beauty of 
our temple of liberty.’’ State after State declared through 
legislative committees that the members of the Cincinnati 
were unworthy of American citizenship, and the Congress 
at Annapolis threatened to disfranchise them unless they 
abolished the hereditary feature of membership. 

In New York the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, 
as it was originally called, was founded in 1789 to antago- 


#See also an article on the Cincinnati in No. 1 of Vol. XII, 1892. 


6 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnatt, 1783. 


nize that of the Cincinnati, and was the first of those ultra- 
democratic organizations which glorified the French Revo- 
lution and which were so detested by Washington. Itisa 
striking commentary on the trustworthiness of political 
prophecy that while the Order of the Cincinnati has been 
of little weight in the history of the nation, and is now 
entirely without political influence, its old rival, with its 
membership of thousands and its arbitrary though nomi- 
nally democratic methods, has gone on increasing in power 
and prestige until it has grown into the most formidable, 
and possibly most dangerous, political organization in the 
Union. 

Moved by this opposition so wide-spread throughout the 
States, some prominent members withdrew from the Soci- 
ety, and others laid aside its insignia. In France however 
the new Order was received with enthusiasm. Major L? En- 
fant wrote from Paris in December, 1783, to von Steuben 
and Washington: ‘‘ Here they are more ambitious to obtain 
the Order of the Cincinnati than to be decorated with the 
cross of St. Louis. * * * This Institution they consider 
as a monument erected to republican virtues, as the funda- 
mental basis of a cordial union between the different States, 
and as a new tie which assures the duration of that recip- 
rocal friendship which France has devoted to America.’’ 

The first meeting of the General Society was held in the 
State-House at Philadelphia in May, 1784, and North Caro- 
lina was represented by Majors Reading Blount of Beau- 
fort County, and Griffith J. McRee of Bladen. Radical 
changes in the character of the Institution were there pro- 
posed, especially the abolition of the primogeniture feature 
of transmission of membership. General Washington, in 
deference to public sentiment, urgently advised these 
changes, and even intimated his purpose of resigning from 


North Carolina Society of the Ctncinnatt, 1783. 7 


the Society unless they were adopted. ‘Through his influ- 
ence the meeting accepted the proposed alterations; but as 
the delegates had no power to bind their respective States by 
such action, the amended Institution was referred back to the 
State Societies, and Washington issued to them a circular 
letter urging a ratification of the amendments. ‘The North 
Carolina Society accepted thein at a meeting held 4th July, 
1784. In the other States the discussion of the various 
propositions dragged on for several years; some of the Socie- 
ties taking no definite action on the amendments, and 
others refusing to ratify them. Finally, as it became evi- 
-dent that it was impossible to obtain unanimous consent 
to the organic changes which would mark a wide depart- 
ure from the original principles of the Association, the 
General Society, at its meeting on 7th May, 1800, voted 
‘‘that the Institution of the Cincinnati remains as it was 
originally proposed and adopted by the officers of the 
American Army at their Cantonments on the Hudson River 
im 1783.” 

The earliest evidence of the formation of the North Caro- 
lina Society is found in the two following letters from 
Gen. Sumner and Rev. Adam Boyd, which are on file in 
the office of the Secretary General of the Cincinnati: 


HALIFAX, N. CAROLINA, 28th October, 1783. 


StR:—At the request of the officers of the Line of this State, I do myself 
the honour to return you their thanks & my own for your favour, cover- 
ing a letter from his excellency the Chevalier De la Luzerne, and other 
papets. 

The officers being highly pleased with the Institution, will most chear- 
fully concur in any measures that shall be adopted for promoting its 
benevolent designs. Not to support such an institution betrays, in their 
opinion, a want of public virtue. 

It appears to be the sense of the Societies to the Southward, that the 
first general meeting should be held at Fredericksburg, in Virginia. That 
place, it is tho’t, is nearly centrical, and most convenient for the Presi- 


8 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, 1783. 


dent-General. The compliance of the Northern Societies in this will give 
us very great pleasure. ; 

I shall always be extremely glad to hear from & to correspond with 
you, and have the honour to be, with great respect, 

Your most obedient & very humble servant, 
JETHRO SUMNER, 
Brig.-Gen’l and President. 
Hon. MAajor-GENERAL BARON DE STEUBEN. 


WILMINGTON, CAPE FEAR, 29th Dec’r, 1783. 


Str:—In October a few officers of this State met at Hillsborough & 
laid the foundation of a society upon the plan of the Cincinnati. Among 
other things they resolved that the president should acquaint the Secre- 


tary-General with their desire, that the first general meeting should be , 


held at Fredericksburg, in Virginia. That place is tho’t to be nearly 
centrical and more convenient than any other for the President-General. 
This last was most decisive with them. 

The president having been obliged to go home before any letters could 
have been written, I was desired to write to you on the subject. This I 
did upon the spot, & gave my letter to a gentleman coming directly here. 
Since my return to this place I find that letter was lost, and not know- 
ing that general Sumner has had an opportunity of conveying one to 
you, I again address you, lest the wishes of the N. Carolina Society 
should not reach you in proper time, and I should incur their censure, 
tho’ very undeservedly. 

A pamphlet said to be the production of a judge Burke in So. Caro- 
lina, has created opponents to the Cincinnati. It has been in this town, 
but I have not yet got a sight of it. His objections, I am told, are founded 
upon a surmise that the Cincinnati mean to establish a numerous peerage 
in direct contradiction to the federal union of the States. This he has 
tortured out of the ‘‘hereditary succession.’’ The whole appears to me 
altogether chimerical: but there are swarms of Butterfly-statesmen & 
patriots who flutter & strutt in the sunshine of safety & peace. These 
things affect to be lynx-eyed, and however groundless their cries may be, 
yet being generally of a popular tone, they are received ‘‘as proofs from 
holy writ.’’ 

Terrible things have been threatened against us, & I do expect our 
Assembly, in their April sessions, will be moved to suppress the Society. 
At that time we have a meeting, and if you can furnish anything to 
strengthen our hands, you will render us a very acceptable service. 

As our President lives near 200 miles from a sea-port town or post-office, 
letters for him had better be sent here. I am about to change my place 


North Carolina Society of the Cincinnatt, 1783. 9 


of residence, but if I do leave this, our vice-president (general Clark) 
and several officers will be here & take care of such letters. 
I have the honour to be, with much respect, 
Your very humble and most obedient servant, 
ADAM Bovp, Seec’y. 


P. $.—I would most gladly correspond with the secretary of your State 
Society. If you will please tell him so you will do me a favour. My 
address is Rev’d A. B., Wilmington, Cape Fear. This is the South 
part of No. Carolina, & vessels from Boston often come here. If I 
remove, my address will not be changed. 


HONORABLE GENERAL KNOX. 


The hostility to the Cincinnati at the very outset, as 
shown in this letter, is noteworthy, and the outcome of 
the opposition in the Legislature is seen in-a communica- 
tion from Adam Boyd of a twelvemonth later date. At 
a meeting of the North Carolina Society, held at Fayette- 
ville on 4th July,’ 1784, the Secretary was ordered to 
address a circular letter to the other State Societies. The 
following copy of this was made from the archives of the 
Maryland Cincinnati, and the letter is also among the 
papers of the Massachusetts Society. It is of interest as 
showing the attitude of the State Assembly toward the 
Association, and as reporting the action of the North Caro- 
lina Cincinnati on the proposed amendments to the Insti- 
tution: 

CAPE FRAR, No. CAROLINA, Ioth Jany., 1785. 


Srr:—I am ordered by the Cincinnati of this State to acquaint you that, 
in consequence of a former adjournment, we had a meeting at Fayette Ville 
on the 4th of July, when the circular-letter, with the institution as altered 
and amended, was read and highly approved. 

The meeting then proceeded to frame their bye-Laws, and to make such 
regulations as they tho’t might promote the friendly and benevolent 
intentions of the Society. x 

We had hopes that the Assembly would take our funds under their 
direction and aid the general design; but tho’ the ablest Members of 
both Houses were on our side, yet the Majority was Against us. 


2 


10 North Carolina Soctety of the Cincinnati, 178 3. 


Waiting the event of this Application, I defered writing, and am truly 
sorry I cannot give a more agreeable account of it. Yet this disappoint- 
ment will not affect the Zeal of Our Members, and we flatter ourselves the 
Opposition will soon die. 

It is the earnest wish of this meeting to hold correspondence with the 
different State Meetings. This, it is tho’t, might be of general advan- 
tage, and contribute to that harmony which is the Soul of the Society. 

I am, with much respect, 

Yt most obedient servant, 
ADAM BoypD, Sée. 


SECRETARY TO THE CINCINNATI IN MARYLAND. 


This second letter, enclosing a copy of the by-laws, is 
addressed to General Otho H. Williams, of the Maryland 
Cincinnati, who served so brilliantly under Greene in the 
Guilford campaign: 


NEW BERNE, No. CAROLINA, 20th May, 1785. 


Str:—In obedience to orders, you will herewith receive a copy of the 
bye-laws of this State meeting; and I was likewise ordered to send a copy 
of the institution, with the names of our members, on parchment. But 
the gentleman appointed for that purpose has not sent me the parchment, 
neither is the roll of names by any meanscompleat. At our annual meet- 
ing I hope these and some other things will be better regulated. 

I beg, Sir, you will excuse the liberty I have taken in troubling you 
with the inclosed letters. My reason for taking it was, I knew not the 
name of an officer near a sea-port in your State or Virginia, whither I beg 
the sealed one may be sent. It is a transcript of that designed for the Sec- 
retary of the Maryland meeting. 

I have the honor to be, with the utmost respect, 

Your obedient and most humble servant, 


ADAM BOvyD. 
HONBLE GENT. WILLIAMS, MARYLAND. 


FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, July 11th, 1785. 
RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR GOVERNING THIS STATE MEETING. 


I. The first business of the anniversary meeting shall be the election of 
a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a representation to 
the Society for the ensuing year. Three members shall be appointed 
Judges of the election, and any two of said Judges agreeing, shall declare 


North Carolina Society of the Cincinnatt, 178}. 11 


those having a majority duly elected; and in case of an equality of 
ballots the decision shall be by lot. 

II. All elections shall be by ballot. 

II. The President is, at all meetings, to regulate the decision of every- 
thing that may be proposed; to stdte and put questions, agreeably to the 
sense and intention of the members. He is also empowered whenever 
he shall think it necessary, to call an extraordinary meeting, on giving 
sixty days’ previous notice by circular letters to the members in each dis- 
trict; and in any occasional absence of the President, and Vice-President, 
the members present shall appoint to the chair one of their number, who, 
whilst there, shall possess all the power of a President. 

IV. The Secretary shall take the niinutes of the proceedings of each 
meeting and produce them fairly transcribed in a book to the next meet- 
ing. In this book shall also be entered all such letters and Essays addressed 
to them or the Society as they may think worth recording, the Originals 
of which must likewise be filed: and the more effectually to guard against 
accidents, which may endanger the records, the proceedings shall be 
copied into two books; for one of which the Secretary shall be answerable, 
and the other shall be lodged with the President, and in Order to prevent 
errors, those books of record shall be carefully revised and compared at 
every meeting. 

‘ V. The Treasurer shall receive the Subscriptions and donations of 
members, and others, agreeably to the institution and under the direction 
of the meeting, shall manage their fund, and transact all their monied 
matters. He shall also lay before every annual meeting, a true state of 
the stock, interest, and other monies belonging to them, and disbursments 
made by their Orders; and he shall deliver to his successor the books, and 
all papers belonging to his Office, together with all monies remaining in 
his hands. And for the faithfull discharge of his trust, the said Treasurer, 
before he enters on the Duties of his Office, shall give bond and security 
to the President and Vice-President, on behalf of the meeting, in the sum 
of five Thousand pounds. : 

VI. At every annual meeting any number of members shall be compe- 
tent to the business of the meeting, consistant with the rules of the 
Society. 

VII. The transactions of extraordinary meetings shall be binding, 
untill the next annual meeting, which shall have the power to confirm or 
abolish their proceedings, 

VIII. In conducting the business of the meeting, no question shall be 
put on a motion unless it be seconded. When any member speaks, he 
shall address himself to the Chair; and no member without permission 
shall speak more than twice on the same subject. 


12 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, 178}. 


IX. No part of the Interest arising from the principal fund, and other 
monies in the disposal of the meeting, shall be ordered in payment for 
charitable or other purposes, without the consent of two-thirds of the 
members present. ach member shall report to the annual meeting such 
objects of charity as may come within his notice; and agreeably to cir- 
cumstances, the meeting shall grant orders for such sums of money as 
shall be judged necessary, and consistant with the state of finances. 

X. It shall be the duty of any member elected to an Office in the meet- 
ing or Society, to Officiate agreeably to the appointment. 

XI. All questions which are not determined by some express Rule, shall 
be decided by the Voice of a majority of the members present. 

XII. Any member, who shall fail to attend the annual meeting, shall 
pay to the Treasurer the sum of five pounds currency, for the use of the 
meeting, unless his excuse be admitted by a majority of members present. 

XIII. The expence of deligation to the Society, and all other necces- 
sary expenditures, shall be an equal contribution of the members of the 
meeting. 

XIV. No member shall absent himself without permission, from the 
Service of the meeting. 

XV. No member shall be expelled the Society, but by consent of two 
thirds of the members present at the annual meeting. 

XVI. Should the meeting be reduced to the disagreeable necessity of 
expelling a member, the motive shall be entered at large on the minutes; 
and as soon as possible, notice shall be given to the Society by the Presi- 
dent, who shall also by circular letter inform the different meetings 
thereof, specifying his name and situation, previous to his becoming a 
member. 

XVII. These rules and regulations to be subject to any alterations or 
amendments at an annual meeting, two thirds of the members agreeing 
thereto. ADAM Bovp, Secy. 


(Copy). 


On the death of General Jethro Sumner in March, 1785, 
Lieutenant-Colonel John B. Ashe, of New Hanover County, 
was chosen President of the North Carolina Cincinnati. 
Major Howell Tatum succeeded Rev. Adam Boyd as Secre- 
tary in 1787, and Major Robert Fenner was elected 
Treasurer. Major Fenner was the sole representative of 
North Carolina at the second triennial meeting of the 
General Society at Philadelphia in May, 1787, the other 
delegates, Colonel William Polk and Major Reading Blount, 


North Carolina Soctety of the Cincinnatt, 1783. 13 


failing to attend. Again at the third general meeting, in 
May, 1790, the only North Carolinian present was Colonel 
Benjamin Hawkins, of Warren County, and since that date 
the State has ceased to be represented. 

A report has been found of but one meeting of the State 
Society. This is printed in the Pennsylvania Packet and 
Daily Advertiser of August 12th, 1786, and is as follows: 


HALIFAX, N. CAROLINA, July 8th. 


The State meeting of the Cincinnati was held here on the 4th, agreeable 
to their adjournment from Fayetteville; the festivity of this auspicious 
day commenced by a suitable discharge of artillery about 11 o’clock. A 
large number of gentlemen from the town and different parts of the 
State met the Society at Mr. Barkdale’s tavern, where an elegant dinner 
was prepared by the direction of their stewards. After dinner the follow- 
ing toasts were drunk, accompanied by separate discharges of cannon, 
and animated with the most rational mirth and patriotic enthusiasm: 

1. The Memorable 4th July, 1776. 

2. The United States of America. 

. The late American Army and Navy. 

. The Fleet and Armies of France who have served in America. 

. His Most Christian Majesty. 

. His Excellency General Washington. 

May America be grateful to her Patriotic Children! 

. The Memory of the Brave Patriots who have fallen in defence of 
America. 

9g. May Virtue support what Courage has gained! 

’ Io. The Vindicators of the Rights of Mankind in every quarter of the 
Globe. 

11. May America be an Asylum to the Persecuted of the Earth! - 

12. May a close Union of the States guard the Temple they have 
erected to Liberty! 

13. May the Remembrance of this Day be a Lesson to Princes! 

The afternoon was spent in the utmost conviviality, enlivened with a 
number of gay and political songs and toasts. In the evening the Society 
gave a ball, which was honoured with a numerous and splendid attend- 
ance of the ladies. 


OI AN Rw 


When and under what circumstances did the North Caro- 
lina Society become dormant? It has not died, for there 


14 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, 1783. 


exists no record or report of any formal dissolution. What 
became of its funds? ‘T‘here is no evidence that they were 
given to any public institution, as was done in Virginia, or 
that they were divided among the members, as in Dela- 
ware. ‘The answer to these questions must be given by 
some diligent searcher among North Carolina documents 
and archives, who will find the papers of the Society sub- 
sequent to 1790. Especially should inquiry be made as 
to the preservation of any papers of Major Tatum, the last 
known Secretary of the Cincinnati. 

One can readily see that the difficulty of holding meet- 
ings of members scattered over a State so large, and with 
so imperfect means of communication, must have been 
insurmountable. Moreover many of the Continental 
officers had their land grants in districts over the moun- 
tains, and removed to what became the State of Tennessee. 
North Carolina, too, possessed no important city, like Bos- 
ton or Charleston, to become the centre of commercial, 
social and political life; and it is probable that the Society 
of the Cincinnati died out simply from the impossibility of 
bringing the old members together for the election of new 
ones. 

Six other of the State Societies ceased to exist for 
various reasons. In a memorandum presented to the Mas- 
sachusetts Cincinnati in June, 1812, we find it stated that: 

The Society was dissolved in Delaware by a formal vote in July, 1802, 
and the funds were resumed in due proportions by those who had furnished 
them. 

In July, 1803 a proposition was made in the Connecticut Society for its 
dissolution. This proposition stood one year for the consideration of the 
members; it was adopted July, 1804, and the Society was accordingly 
then dissolved. 

In December, 1803, the Virginia Society voted to bestow all their funds 
for the endowment of an Academy in the County of Rockbridge, denomi- 


nated the Washington Academy, which had been the object of Gen. 
Washington’s particular patronage and bounty. 


North Carolina Society of the Cincinnatt, 1783. 15 


In South Carolina the Society not being numerous, sometimes associates 
itself with a Society in Charleston called the ‘‘Revolution Society”? in 
celebrating the 4th of July, and on other occasions. 

In New Hampshire the Society is not formally dissolved, but it is seldom 
heard of; and in Georgia, North Carolina and Rhode Island very few per- 
sons (except now and then a veteran officer of the Revolutionary Army) 
seem even to know that such a society either does, or ever did exist. 

The Society flourishes chiefly in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey; while there are occasionally tokens of its existence 
in South Carolina and New Hampshire. In all other States it may be 
said to be very dormant or totally extinct. 


It‘is curious that in this statement no mention is made 
of the Maryland Society, which, together with those of 
South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and 
Massachusetts, has had an unbroken existence from the 
beginning until now. ‘That of Rhode Island was revived 
in 1881, and Connecticut was re-admitted to the Order at 
the triennial meeting of the General Society in Boston in 
June, 1893. These eight Societies are now full of life and 
activity, and are all represented by large delegations at 
each recurring General Meeting. They are, however, 
greatly reduced in numbers by the dying out of some 
Revolutionary families, and the apathy of others in claim- 
ing their hereditary rights to membership. The whole 
number of the Cincinnati is now less than five hundred; 
while at the founding of the Order Massachusetts alone 
had three hundred and thirty-seven members and Pennsyl- 
vania two hundred and sixty-eight. 

Steps have been taken to revive the dormant Societies 
of Georgia and Virginia, and will not North Carolina also 
knock for admission at the triennial meeting to be held in 
Philadelphia in 1896? ‘There are living in the State lineal 
descendants of the original sixty-two members, and of other 
Continental officers who were entitled to membership, and 
it is the patriotic duty of these men to assert their heredi- 


16 North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, 1783. | 


tary claims. At present only three members of the Cin- 
cinnati represent officers of the North Carolina Line: Judge 
William D, Harden, of Savannah, great-grandson of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Thomas Pasteur, of New Bern, and Honor- 
able George D. Johnston, of Washington, great-grandson 
of Major George Doherty, of Wilmington, who are both 
members of the South Carolina Cincinnati, and Professor 
Edward Graham Daves, of Baltimore, grandson of Major 
John Daves, of New Bern, who belongs to the Maryland 
Society. 

The early meetings of the Cincinnati were conducted 
with much dignity and ceremony, the members assembling 
in full uniform or court dress, and after the transaction of 
business marching in stately procession to some church or 
public hall to listen to an elaborate address. All this has 
given way to modern republican simplicity, and there is 
now nothing more formal than an annual banquet, at which 
the themes of the speakers are the heroic deeds of our sires” 
in the times that tried men’s souls. 

The Society has always warmly cherished love of coun- 
try, and has helped many a widow or orphan in her hour 
of need, All prejudice against it has died away, and no 
one now withholds respect for an association which is alike 
illustrious in its origin, patriotic in its aims, and beneficent 
in its operations. It accentuates Americanism in the best 
sense of that. term, and surely never was such an influence 
more needed than now, when the absorption of an enormous 
foreign element into the body politic is modifying our 
national character, and there is a dangerous tendency to 
depart too widely from the standards of our fathers. 

The past score of years has witnessed a marked revival 
of interest in Revolutionary events, and a growing admi- 
ration for the wisdom and manly virtues of the founders of 


Norih Carolina Soctety of the Cincinnati, 1783. 17 


the Republic. These sentiments have been quickened by 
the successive patriotic celebrations, which have extended 
from the hundredth anniversary of the Mecklenburg Decla- 
ration of Independence, on 20th May, 1875, to that of the 
Inauguration of our first President, on 30th April, 18809, 
and will culminate in the unveiling of the superb equestrian 
statue of: Washington erected in Philadelphia by the 
Pennsylvania Cincinnati. 

In all this movement the Order of the Cincinnati has 
been a factor of potent influence, and it has within this 
period given birth to other similar organizations, such as 
that of the Sons of the Revolution, an association of like 
purpose and wider scope. ‘These new societies show all 
the vigour and enthusiasm of youth, and they are rapidly 
multiplying the number of men and women who are 
making a special study of Colonial and Revolutionary his- 
tory, and who find for noble patriotic work in the present, 
‘inspiration in our heroic past. 

In reviewing the long life of the now venerable Society 
one finds that it has never swerved from its wise and noble 
purposes, and there is probably no patriot who would 
not echo the words of Washington in his letter to William 
Barton concerning the founding of the Order: ‘‘I am-con- 
vinced that the members, actuated by motives of sensibility, 
charity and patriotism, are doing a laudable thing in erect- 
ing this memorial of their common services, sufferings and 
friendships.’’ 


ORIGINAL MEMBERS 


OF THE 


NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI* 


Major-General—Robert Howe. 

Brigadier-General—Jethro Sumner. 

Colonel, and Brevet Brigadier-General—Thomas Clark. 

Colonel—Archibald Lytle. | »: 

Lieutenant-Colonels—J ohn Baptista Ashe, HeuryDixou, Hardy Murfree. F 

Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel by Brevet—Thomas Hogg. 

Majors—Reading Blount, George Doherty, Griffith John McRee, Wil- 
liam Polk. 

Capiains, and Majors by Brevet—Thomas Armstrong, Kedar Ballard, 
Benjamin Coleman, Robert Fenner, Clement Hall, Robert Raiford, James 
Read, Joseph T. Rhodes, Anthony Sharpe, Howell Tatum. 

Captains—Samuel Ashe, Jr., Peter Bacot, George Bradley, Alexander 
Brevard, Thomas Callender, John Daves, Samuel Denny, Joshua Hadley, 
William Lytle, Joseph Montford, John Slaughter, William Williams, 


Sg a 


Edward Yarborough. 
Lieutenant, and Captain by Brevet—James Campen. 
Lieutenants—William Alexander, Robert Bell, Joseph Brevard, William . 


Bush, John Campbell, Thomas Clark, Wynne Dixon, Richard Fenner, 
Thomas Finney, John Ford, Charles Gerard, Francis Graves, Robert 
Hayes, John Hill, Hardy Holmes, Curtis Ivey, Abner Lamb, James Moore, 


Thomas Pasteur, William Sanders, Jesse Stead. 


7 Se oat Z 
tt roe 


Cornet—James McDougall. 


= ee, 
« 


=~ 


Surgeon’s Mates—James Fergus, William McLane. 
Brigade Chaplain—Rev. Adam Boyd. 
Deputy Paymaster-General—Jacob Blount. 


~ aes 
ee oe 


*This list is probably not quite complete. 


= 
a 


797525 


iu a 


CAROLINA COLL 


